Killer Joe

2011 drama

Rating: 16/20 (Jen: 12/20)

Plot: A kid with financial troubles hires the titular creep to get rid of his mother in order to share some insurance money.

After seeing his work in this and Bernie, I think I'm ready to take Matthew McConaughey more seriously. In a way, I don't want to because I have to look up his name every time I have to spell it and then, after I've spelled it, look it up a second and a third time to make sure that I've spelled it correctly. And I can't type his name without thinking of oppressive pectorals. But I'm impressed with what he does here, taking this strange character and nailing it with just the perfect amount of quiet. This a natural fit for McConaughey and his nipples, and it's such a dark character that it makes you wonder how he ever fit in the skin of those characters in all those romantic comedies. Of course, he's not the only dark character here. They're all sinners in one way or another. They're such terrible human beings that I don't think I could have argued with anything that might happen to them by the time the credits began rolling. Sinners and unbelievably dumb, so dumb that I'm willing to bet it would be a turn off for a lot of viewers. More than likely, the plot could do that all by itself. The weirdness in this one really creeps up on you. Sure there's a constant thunderstorm in this Texas town, an obnoxious doggy, an early surreal sequence that suggests thoughts of incest, and all these trailer park details, but the massive creepiness really sneaks up on the viewer during an incredibly intense and tension-packed final twenty minutes or so. Jen and I watched this movie late on a week night, and we both had trouble going right to sleep after it was all over, and I think I have to credit writer Tracy Letts (I am, by the way, surprised that a woman wrote this thing), director William Friedkin, and the cast for crafting this little nightmare. In fact, I suspect that they all got together just to figure out a way to make us lose sleep, and if that was truly their ultimate goal, they were successful. However, it's not all doom and gloom with Killer Joe as there is tons of masterful black comedy. The scene that I imagine most people will always remember after seeing this is one of those that will make you not be able to think of an everyday object, in this case a chicken leg, the same way again. And the way McConaughey says one word here--"Leg"--is just perfect, such simple genius. That's right--I just used "McConaughey" and "genius" in the same sentence.

This trailer trash jolts, makes you more than a little uneasy. If that sounds like a good reason to watch a movie to you, you'll get something out of this.